NYC ROCKS! CHAPTER INTRODUCTION
RELATED LESSON PLAN
Inquiry Project: Design Your
Soil (in printable PDF format)
RELATED CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXERCISE
Rocks (in
printable PDF format)
Rocks are everywhere in New York City—from
the Hartland formation bedrock deep under our feet, to
the limestone and brick buildings and the boulders in
Central Park. These rocks come in many sizes, shapes and
forms, from the huge plates in the earth’s crust
to the tiny rock particles we find in soil. How did a
place like New York City end up with so many kinds of
rocks everywhere? What kinds of rocks could we find if
we dug deep underground? How is soil related to rocks?
In NYC Rocks! you will find fascinating information about
the rocks and soils that are the foundation of New York
City. With a bit of tweaking the content presented in
this chapter can be integrated into science inquiry projects
for your students and you’ll have a class full of
geologists and soil scientists in no time! Some ideas
include students researching what rocks make up the bedrock
where they live and/or where their school is. Part of
the project could be taking a tour of places in the city
where the bedrock is visible from the earth’s surface,
like Central Park and parts of the Bronx and Harlem. Students
could also take a walk around the block at home or school
and record as many different kinds of rocks, in any form,
they see around them. Back in the classroom students can
pool the data and analyze it for patterns and trends.
Another great project is having students make soils and
experimenting with how different soil compositions affect
plant growth. A lesson plan based on this project is presented
in the section below titled Inquiry Project.
Bringing students’ resources into the science
classroom
Students in the middle grades often have much more experience
with and knowledge about rocks and soils than they or
their teachers may realize. It is likely that they live
in buildings made of bricks, limestone or brownstone and
see rocks in different forms almost everywhere they go.
Students might have experiences visiting parks in their
neighborhoods and can talk about soils or rock formations
they’ve seen. Many students have been to beaches
both in the city or elsewhere, where they’ve played
in the sand or maybe they are members of a community garden
and may have experience composting to make rich soils
out of kitchen scraps.
RELATED LESSON PLAN
Inquiry Project: Design Your
Soil (in printable PDF format)
RELATED CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXERCISE
Rocks (in
printable PDF format)
